I WAS very interested to read about the UK Government's £5 million contribution towards the refurbishment costs at the Burrell (“Osborne to announce £5m boost for refit of museum”, The Herald, November 25). The comments about the "collection's huge cultural relevance for the United Kingdom as a whole" reminded me that not everyone has appreciated its significance in, and for, Glasgow.
Back in 1979, I was one of two Glasgow University graduates attending the post-graduate course in museum studies at the University of Leicester. During one of his lectures, the department's deputy director began to talk about the Burrell and how it really should not be in Glasgow. His argument was that Glasgow was a "working-class city", with no cultural history, or tradition in the appreciation and production of decorative arts, and that the collection would be better housed in London, ideally at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it would attract the "right sort" of visitors. Needless to say, we soon put him right about the facts.
Thankfully, Glasgow's museums and galleries have benefited from the munificence of collectors and patrons and ensured and visitors from across the world, can enjoy seeing the works of art from private collections, most of which were housed in and around the city.
George Fairfull-Smith,
342 Kilmarnock Road, Glasgow.
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